Sunday, January 14, 2007

Penn Station Revisited

Last week, I posted a photo of the New York City Pennsylvania (Penn) Station on this DP. Here is another photo of the train station, which shows the ticket booths on the left and the departure terminals behind the giant pillar. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) terminal on the right.

The partially visible woman on the lower left corner was purchasing a ticket on the automated ticketing machine and the gentleman behind her was waiting for his turn while glancing over at the electronic train schedule.


Greeley Square

Greeley Square is a small plot of triangular concrete space sandwiched between two intersecting avenues (Broadway and Sixth) and 32nd Street. It has a twin square, better known as Herald Square on the north end, and together the two squares form a bowtie configuration of public space.

Greeley Square was named after Horace Greeley, an influential editor of The New York Tribune in the mid-1890s, who ran unsuccessfully as a presidential candidate against Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 under the new Liberal Republican Party.

Greeley and Herald Squares are situated above one of the busiest subway stations in the city and are neighhors to the famous Macy's departmental store, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. The squares, especially Greeley Square, offer a tiny oasis of tranquility and relaxation right in the middle of midtown madness. Retail kiosks on Greeley Square sells coffee, snacks and newspapers to commuters who are constantly passing by on their way to and from work. It is definitely an ideal place for people watching.